Does it matter where you live?

Here's an interesting thought; in today's virtual world, location really does matter.

In his book, "Who's your city?", Richard Florida make a compelling case for the importance of location to you career.

[amtap book:isbn=0465003524]

The author's point is something that was a discussion point of early work in the KM space: serendipity.  Personal and organizational knowledge was gained and shared serendipitously through encounters with friends, colleagues, and business contacts.  If you aren't in close proximity to people there is often not a transfer of knowledge.  Even today there is a large amount of knowledge tranfer amongst smokers forced to congregate outside office building entrances.

This location principle can be seen in the creativity coming out of places like the Silicon Valley, the Media Gulch, etc.

The personal knowledge creation cycle described here shows how the location principle applies to KM.

People are complex

I just finished reading David Coleman's latest blog over at Collaborate.com - Is Trust Critical for Collaboration.  David comes to an interesting conclusion that I can and do support.  I too have been one of those people that put trust at the top of the list when it came to collaboration and community. Oh, read the article for his conclusion about trust. :-)

Having just gone through a bit of a team crisis, I can attest to the fact that cultural context is more important to collaboration than is trust.  The team trusted each other, worked OK together, but even though we were not geographically dispersed we did not share a common cultural context.

David is spot on with when he said "People are complex and the interactions between them are even more complex, and from complex systems arise emergent characteristics which can’t be planned for, and often can’t be managed or controlled."

It is frustrating when command and control kicks in to address the "problems" that arise from these complex people interactions.

New Reading recommendations

I have posted several new reading recommendations in the Collaboration and Organizational Culture areas.  You can find them under the Reading menu and then the respective categories.  Enjoy!

Generational Shift

There has been lots of conversations lately about generational shifts in communication methods.  This presentation from Dr. Pete Markiewicz is very informative.  The communication methods and approaches to work will become more evident as Millennials make their way deeper into the global workforce.

The Millennial Generation, technology and work


There are those that cross the generational boundaries of communication.  As an example I would fall into what the presentation terms GenX but many of my communications modes are "Millennial".  I am adapting, sometimes slower than my children would like, but I am adapting.  There are those that have no interest or even understanding that they need to adapt.  Not just adapt to survive, but adapt so that there is a cross generational polination of ideas and knowledge transfer.

[amtap book:isbn=0971260605]